Episode #12: The Night of March 31st

Since April Fool's Day occurs this week, the first April Fool's episode of Superman Fan Podcast had to be about this story. It was actually published, no April Fool's, by DC Comics in 1961. The Night of March 31st was the third story in Superman #145, cover date May, 1961. It was first on sale on March 16, 1961. It was reprinted in The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Published (1987), which was the edition where I first read this story.
The credits for this story are as follows:
Editor: Mort Weisinger
Cover: The Interplanetary Circus penciller: Curt Swan, inker: Stan Kay
Story: writer: The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told (1987) credits Otto Binder. Both dcindexes.com and comics.org credit Jerry Siegel.
Penciller: Curt Swan, inker: Sheldon Moldoff
Editors purposefully placed errors throughout the story and encouraged readers to spot as many mistakes as they could, list them and send them in. Errors could involve plot, art, coloring or lettering. At the end of the story, under the heading of The Great Superman Boo - Boo Contest, DC editors gave instructions on how to submit entries and the address to send submissions to. In Superman #149 or 150 DC published a list of winners. There were five grand prize winners and ten honorable mentions, including a set of brothers. The winner found 456 errors. Of note is the fourth place winner, who was at MIT and found 302 errors. At least 12,000 readers responded to the contest. One of the errors of note was on the fifth page of the story, in the fourth panel. Clark Kent is changing into Superman in the Daily Commercial store room. Two men are watching Clark change into his costume. They are variously identified as cameos of Harry Donenfeld or Stan Kaye with Curt Swan.
Two web sites to check out about this story are:
sacomics.blogspot.com, the Friday, March 31, 2006 blog entry.
www.hembeck.com/WordsAboutPictures/Nightof March31st.htm.
In case you are wondering, I spotted around fifty errors in the story; nothing to write DC Comics about.
Don't forget to go to Amazon.com and pre-order Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, written by Marc Tyler Nobleman and illustrated by Ross Macdonald. It will be published by Knopf Books For Young Readers, and released on August 26, 2008. Check out their websites: http://noblemania.blogspot.com, www.mtncartoons.com and www.ross-macdonald.com.

Superman Fan Podcast can be found at www.supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. Send your e-mails about Superman Fan Podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.
Also check out my other blog: My Pull List at www.mypulllist.blogspot.com. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Thanks for listening to Superman Fan Podcast, and as always, thanks to Jerry and Joe.